Ricki Lake
Ricki Pamela Lake (born September 21, 1968) is an American actress, television presenter and producer. She is best known for her talk show which was broadcast internationally from September 1993 until May 2004. When Lake's show debuted, she was 24 and credited as being the youngest person to host a syndicated talk show (dubbed as The New Ricki Lake Show) as of which aired on weekdays. The series was canceled in 2013 after a single season, but Lake won her first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Host. In 2006, Lake hosted an episode of The Price is Right as part of the celebrity-driven summer tournament series Gameshow Marathon. Early Life Lake was born to Jill (a homemaker) and Barry Lake (a pharmacist) in Hasting-on-Hudson, New York but was largely brought up by her parental grandmother named Sylvia Lake until her death in 1978. Lake attended Ithaca College for one year. Career Acting Lake made her film debut as Tracy Turnblad, the lead character in John Water's 1988 cult-classic Hairspray. Lake also starred in other Waters films (with Johnny Depp and Susan Tyrrell) Cecil B. Demented (with Melanie Griffith and Stephen Dorff) and Serial Mom (with Kathleen Turner and Sam Waterson). She starred in Mrs. Witerbourne with Shirley MacLaine and Brendan Fraser, Cabin Boy, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Cookie and Inside Monkey Zetterland. She joined the cast of the Vietnam War drama series China Beach as a Red Cross volunteer, Holly "the Donut Dolly" Pelegrino for the show's third season. She also had a recurring role on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens as Doug's sister Stephanie. She guest-starred on television series including Drop Dead Diva and a voice role in King of the Hill and starred in the television movie Baby Cakes. She had a cameo appearance in the 2007 remake of the original cult classic Hairspray as a William Morris Talent Agent and teamed up with star Nikki Blonsky (who played Tracy Turnblad in the 2007 movie musical remake) and Marissa Janet Winokur (who played Tracy Turnblad in the Broadway musical based on the original 1988 film) to record "Mama I'm a Big Girl Now" for the soundtrack. The song is played during the film's end credits. She later reunited with original Hairspray co-star Deborah Harry for the film Hotel Gramercy Park which was released in 2008. Talk Show Ricki Lake was Lake's first daytime talk show and at 24, she was the youngest person at the time to host one (that record would later be broken by eight-year-old Philippine child actress Ryzza Mae Dizon in 2013). The show specialized in topics involving invited guests and incorporated questions and comments from a studio audience. The show debuted in syndication on September 13, 1993 and ended first run episodes on May 25, 2004. In 2000, Lake told Rosie O'Donnell in an interview that she had signed on for four additional years. Although Sony Pictures Television had many stations contracted through the 2004-2005 season, Lake decided to end the show in August 2004. Citing (among other things) a desire to spend time with her family. She moved from Los Angeles to New York to tape the 11th season of the show, then returned to California when taping was complete. Lake returned to the talk show platform when she hosted a second talk show which premiered September 10, 2012 and was canceled on June 19, 2013 after one season. Other Projects: 2006-2010 After her talk show wrapped production on its final season, Lake went on to host the 2006 CBS limited series Gameshow Marathon which re-created classic game shows with celebrity guests. She also signed a development deal with Gameshow Marathon producer FremantleMedia (now Fremantle) for other ventures, including creating and producing feature programs and projects. In October 2007, Lake appeared in the Lifetime TV movie Matters of Life and Dating. Lake also had a cameo in the 2007 film Hairspray as a talent agent and also sang "Mama I'm a Big Girl Now" with Nikki Blonsky and Marissa Janet Winokur for the film's end credits. The Business of Being Born Lake's documentary about home birth and midwifery was released in limited markets on January 18, 2008. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and Red Envelope released the film in New York, L.A. and San Francisco in October, It also screened in Australia. The Business of Being Born included footage and details of Lake's own "life-changing" home-birthing experience and following a midwife going about her work. Tribeca called it "The inconvenient Truth of Child Birth" Lake described it as her life's work for the last three years and expressed hoped that the film educated and empowered people to really know their choices of childbirth. She performed in the CBS television special Loving Leah in January of that year. Lake also jointly wrote a book on the world of natural childbirth and birthing options along with Abby Epstein and Jacques Moritz Your Best Birth which was published by Wellness Central on May 1, 2009. Lake and Epstein also launched MyBestBirth.com, an online social network, powered by Ning intended to allow parents and medical professionals to dialogue about varying birth options and resources. Lake returned to television on May 11, 2009 succeeding Sharon Osbourne as host of the third season of VH1's Charm School. On November 10, 2010 Lake joined fellow talkers Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael, Geraldo Rivera and Montel Williams as guests of Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Winfrey Show marking the first time those hosts ever appeared together on one show since their programs left the air. Other Projects: 2011-present In March 2011, reports said that three television studios, Twentieth Television, Universal Media Studio and CBS Television Distribution were interested in bringing Lake back to the talk show realm in 2012. This after Lake began appearing on various programs in which she expressed a desire to return to the genre. Lake competed in the 13th season of Dancing With the Stars as she was partnered with three-time champion Derek Hough and cited Kristie Alley's appearance as an inspiration to do the show. Lake achieved tremendous success, consistently achieving high scores. After making the finals, Lake was announced as the contestant in third place, losing to television personality Rob Kardashian and actor and Army veteran J.R. Martinez despite having higher scores than both. On April 20, 2011 Lake signed with Twentieth Television to develop The Ricki Lake Show which premiered in September 2012. The new program has a more Oprah-like format than that of her former talk show. It was cancelled after one season. Lake won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2013. As of February 2014, Lake is working with director Abby Epstein on a documentary about the dangers of hormonal birth control titled Sweetening the Pill. The film is based on Holly Grigg-Spall's upcoming 2015 book titled Sweetening the Pill Or How We Became Hooked on Hormonal Birth Control. The film will explore the flurry of lawsuits related to these methods, as well as alternative options such as Natural Family Planning. Lak and Epstein said "Now birth control is making women sick and so our goal with this film is to wake women up to the unexposed side effects of these powerful medications and the unforeseen consequences of repressing women's natural cycles". On December 7, 2016 Lake made a cameo in the television musical Hairspray Live! On February 11, 2017 Lake appeared as a guest judge on the British talent show Let It Shine with Gary Barlow, Dannii Minogue and Martin Kemp on BBC One. On February 17, 2018 Lake appeared on the British comedy panel television show Through the Keyhole with Keith Lemon on ITV. In March 2018, at SXSW, Lake and Epstein premiered the documentary film Weed the People examining the use of cannabis in the treatment of pediatric cancer. The Price is Right (Gameshow Marathon) On May 31, 2006 Lake hosted an episode of The Price is Right as part of the celebrity-driven tournament series Gameshow Marathon on CBS with former Price personality Rich Fields as the announcer and Todd Newton as the prize deliverer. In this episode, only three pricing games were played (Hole in One (or Two), Plinko and Race Game) as the two top winners in the Showcase Showdown advanced to the Showcase. The winning showcase (along with any prizes won by that celebrity contestant previously) went to a viewer watching at home. The winner in particular was former Baywatch Hawaii star Brande Roderick earning $54,336 in prizes for the home viewer her charity was for City of Hope. Personal Life Lake met illustrator Rob Sussman in October 1993 on Halloween. The couple married in Los Angeles on March 26, 1994. They have two sons: Milo Sebastian Sussman (b. March 22, 1997) and Owen Tyler Sussman (b. June 18, 2001) whose water birth was actually shown in The Business of Being Born, the documentary that she also produced. They both filed for divorce in August 2003 as their divorce was finalized on February 25, 2005. Lake began dating Christian Evans in the summer of 2009. They became engaged in August 2011 and married each other on April 8, 2012. On October 29, 2014, Lake filed for divorce from Evans, citing "irreconcilable differences" in December 2014, however, they announced that they had put their divorce on hold. The divorce was finalized in 2015. Evans died on February 11, 2017. On September 18, 2010, Lake's rented Malibu home was destroyed by a fire. She and her sons escaped without injury. On January 15, 2011, Lake finished in sixth place in the PokerStars Carribean Adventure Luxury Ladies Poker Event by collecting $5, 587 of the prize pool. Category:Hosts Category:People